Dior Crème de Rose, Smoothing Plumping Lip Balm Spf 10

Anther review coming your way because this product is too nice to keep to myself!

I'm a huge huge lip balm junkie! I have been since I was a little girl and I would much rather bring a favorite lip balm to a desert island than a lip gloss.


That being said, let me tell you about the Dior Crème de Rose. This just came out with the Dior Spring 2010 Boudoir Lacy Collection.

The packaging is what caught my eye and made me decide to purchase it without even having tried it (It's lip balm from Dior, so I decided to take the chance ;)). So cute!

The scent is a nice rose smell, bordering on slightly too much perhaps, but at least nothing like the Yes!Yes!Yes! from The Body Shop that I hate with a passion don't like because of the sickening sweet overbearing smell it has.

It gets a big plus for the size: it contains 7.2 g/0.025 oz and another plus for the color: baby pink that gives off enough color to nude your lips, but not so much that it will make your lips look like concealer-lips like the Body Shop's.
It also has spf10 so this will become my favorite go-to lip balm for Summer and the beach for sure.


But you can have the cutest packaging and color ever, if the lip balm itself is crappy, I'll toss it aside and wont use it.
A lip balm should just be creamy enough to stay on the lips, but not make them sticky or slide off after a few minutes. The Dior Crème de Rose is just perfection! Very moisturizing, stays on for a long time and is the perfect texture.

I don't know where the "plumping" comes in though.. I don't see my lips getting any bigger and thankfully it doesn't give you that numbing, tingling feeling that most plumping lip products give. I can't wear that, it's too distracting. So I think Dior had a little typo there...

The price: $ 25
Will I repurchase: Yes! Yes! Yes! I'm so funny

Review: YSL Teint Resist foundation

This is my personal (and professional... which kind of goes hand in hand) opinion of this product.
I've been wearing it every day for over a week. My skin is normal/dry, but with a slightly oily t-zone.
For comparison, I'm a Mac nw30/35

I recently purchased the YSL Teint Resist, Long wear Transfer Resistant Foundation with spf 10 (in number 6).
It's the most resent foundation from YSL and they have to say this about it:

	"Yves Saint Laurent's NEW foundation, Teint Resist, guarantees unfailing wear and radiance for up to 14 hours. The luminous, transfer-resistant formula forms perfectly to the skin for a soft and seamless result. The complexion is preserved from feelings of discomfort or tightening, remaining supple and silky-smooth from the morning through to night. Pigments are specially coated for a color-true effect and the formula absorbs excess oil through the day, for a complexion which always looks and feels fresh. Teint Resist gives the guarantee of an even, smooth and comfortable complexion hour after hour, giving you the confidence to put your best face forward in every circumstance. Oil Free. SPF 10."

What appealed to me about this foundation was "luminous" and "long wear". I hate having my "face" melt away after five hours after applying foundation. I want more from a foundation! I want it to look pretty all day long!

So, my verdict of this foundation:
I'm loving it! This stays on my face, just like when I apply it in the morning, until I get home from work. So that's from 6.30 am to 4.30 pm - 10 hours. Never heard of a foundation that actually does that!

This foundation gives medium/full coverage and dries very quickly on your face so you have to work fast to get an even application. The finish is matte, but slightly luminous (especially seen in pictures) because of light reflecting particles. - It doesn't give a dewy nor glowy look for those who want that though...

I don't set it with powder, because it completely mattes out my face (probably because I have normal/dry skin). It can sometimes make my skin feel a little dry so I have been using the Mac fix + spray or adding some more moisturizer before applying the foundation.
That makes me think this is a perfect foundation for women with oily skin!

As far as being transfer-resistant.. I wouldn't rub my face against my white blouse to tell you that... but because it's so matte I'm sure this is a lot more transfer-resistant than a lot of other foundations.

As you know, I love my highlighter and I'm loving how the highlighter on my cheek bones become even more prominent on a more matte foundation. With a dewy foundation it can have a tendency to make your entire face look all highlighted...












Unless I discover another amazing long wear foundation, I think I have found The One I will wear for my wedding!
And as a makeup artist, I think I will try this foundation out on bridal clients too because I am positive this will stay on the entire day with most skin types.

Oh, and it smells nice and comes in a very luxurious looking packaging too for those who like that ;)

Hair update - finally there!

After several rounds of highlights I do believe I'm where I want my hair to be! Yey for that!
It's taken 3 months, too much money and a big hair chop to get there.

My last visit to the salon was Friday and we decided to cut a lot of my hair for a few reasons. First of all, the ends were really bad and damaged.
You don't want to have a great hair color on crappy hair!
Second, the hair color on the bottom half my hair would not budge! No matter how much bleach and highlighting we did, it was a couple of tones darker than the rest of my hair and that just really bugged me.. So we did some chopping to get rid of it and to get my hair back to a healthy state!

I have hair that grows in warp speed, so by the time of the wedding (in August) it will be long and nice, like I want it, again :)

So a couple of before pictures to remind you of the journey ;)
The picture on the right is what it looks like now. Not too different from the middle picture, just a tad lighter and no dark ends!













I cannot wait for some sun to hit it and naturally lighten it :) I want some sun-kissed hair this Summer :)

My hair inspirations started with Eva Mendes, Jennifer Lopez and ended up with Jennifer Aniston. Haha!

So, there it is girls! :)

MAC's matte dark brown eyeshadows

Remember I recently complained about how MAC doesn't have one single dark brown-blackish matte eyeshadow. Well, I was happy to find out I was wrong (but kind of right).
They do did have a color like that, but it was limited edition unfortunately.

The color is Suspicion, from the NocturnElle collection which was a 2006 holiday collection. I discovered Mac a year ago so that was before my obsession with their eyeshadows, but I managed to find it on my trusty beloved Ebay!

This is a velvet eyeshadow and it's got an amazing color pay-off! I've been using this every single day since I got it. I use it in the crease, outer v and to set my eyeliner on my bottom lashline. As you might have noticed it does have some glittery things to it, but not enough for it to show up when it's applied.
If you can get a hold of this (maybe at a CCO or Ebay?) - then go for it!

A matte dark brown eyeshadow should be a staple in everyone's collection - in my opinion.
If you're a little bit intimidated by Carbon (Mac's matte black eyeshadow), then you must have a brown!

5 reasons why to have a matte dark brown eyeshadow:

1. It's perfect to use in the crease,
2. outer v,
3. line the eyes with either on it's own or to set the eyeliner,
4. fill in eyebrows (that is if you have dark eyebrows),
5. and it's perfect to create amazing daytime- and nighttime smoky eyes with that are not so dramatic
   

While I'm on the topic of Mac's dark brown matte eyeshadows, I thought I would show you the ones they have.
I do believe these are the only ones Mac have in the permanent collection. Correct me if I'm wrong ;)

(it looks like all of these e/s have some glitter in them, but they don't. It's just transferred from other eyeshadows in my palette ;))

Brun is my favorite one and the one I use on most my clients when I do their makeup. It's a very neutral perfect color with great color pay-off.
(Fun fact: Did you know that "brun" is how we say and spell "brown" in Norwegian? - and Sweden and Denmark too ;))

Mystery is fairly new to my collection and I love this because it's a cool colored brown. But as you can see in the pictures and the swatches, it's almost identical to Brun. If you have to choose one - I would go for Brun!

Embark is one of the "You Tube made me do it" purchases... (you know what I'm talking about!). It's a red-ish brown color that I've used... once!? Great color pay-off, but I'm not crazy about the color...

And speaking of You Tube made me do it.. Meet Handwritten! Quite similar to Embark, except this is more plum colored brown. The color pay-off is not
as amazing as Embark, but that's why I like this one. When applied it's a more soft brown/purple color.
If I had to chose one: Handwritten!

Building my wardrobe

Who thought I would ever mention anything outfit/wardrobe/clothes/fashion-related in my blog, huh? ;) Not me!
But I have come across some really great blogs lately that inspires me, not only when it comes to makeup, hair and beauty, but clothes! And I definitely need it! I've been in a wardrobe rut for a couple of years and I want to get out of it! I don't want to slip into the comfort-zone where I end up looking mom-ish and boring.

I want to be a yummy mommy and look my best in every possible way!

My style when it comes to clothes is very Scandinavian I think... Very simple, boring classic and few accessories. Close friends call me Miss Cardigan! Haha, I don't even know how many cardigans I own, but a lot! And I still need, want, must have more!!

Since getting my first job, which was 2 1/2 years ago (with a 1 year maternity leave in the middle of that), I haven't updated my wardrobe to fit the office life. That is what I want to change now! I think (and hear that I do) I always look put together and well-dressed, but I would like to look a bit more business'y and stylish.
We don't have a dress code at the office, but since I'm working with clients so much - and we do have a dress code for that, I need to get some new clothes that can fit into the category "business casual".

So girls, I need your help to tell me what it is that I need to start building a wardrobe!


I got so inspired from this beautiful woman's style and blog: Saltwater Dreams (one of the blogs I have recently found that I love!!) , that I went out and got the top in the picture. It's from H&M and really cute!
A striped top is a must-have for Spring!
Now, I just need to figure out what to wear with it....

Hate the blue skirt, by the way.. Not my style, but love it with the jacket!










While skimming through the racks at H&M I also noticed another top/cardigan I have to get (the pale pink in the picture):


I love, love this outfit! Love it with the white shirt underneath and skinny jeans! I would wear black skinny jeans/pants with this though.. Wearing jeans is a little bit no-no at work unless they are very dark.

This will be mine on Friday! ♥

Jemma Kidd highlighter

Another haul post coming your way, and I still have a few more to do that I wanted to share with you. Sorry for not posting anything more interesting these days!
This time it's another highlighter! If you have watched Pixi2woo's latest videos on You Tube,
this is the highlighter she's using and talks so highly of.
Watch her Marisa Miller makeup tutorial here.

My holy grail highlighter is Mac Cream Color Base in Pearl, but it looks like miss Pearl will have to share the title with the Jemma Kidd Dewy Glow radiance Cream in # 01 Ice gold.
The color is very similar to the Mac Pearl, but the texture is completely different.

The cream color base is very creamy and can be a challenge to put on after foundation. Because it's so creamy/sticky you have to apply it with an extremely light hand otherwise you will rub off the foundation.
The Jemma Kidd on the other hand is also a cream highlighter, but it has a cream-to-powder finish. So while the Mac gives a more dewy look because it's more sticky, this will give a matte finish.


It glides on with absolutely no effort and that is the main reason why I love it so much. The other reason is the packaging and the mirror.
It's even got moisturizing jojoba in it and sun filter.

Jemma Kidd products can be bought at Target in the US and probably all over the place in the UK (since it's a UK brand). In Norway - not so much, but I got this from thepromakeupshop.co.uk for a good price.


This is definitely worth a try if you are still looking for a great highlighter!

Bobbi Brown haul + EOTD

I have a small Bobbi Brown haul, from Ebay, I wanted to share with you. I just discovered that Bobbi Brown came out with a Nordstrom exclusive "Eyes and cheeks to go" palette and I had to get the brown eye quad! (I want the gray too, but couldn't find it on Ebay). I already own a BB lip quad so I thought this would be perfect for my "to go" palette.

As you might know, Bobbi Brown sells empty palettes in different sizes that you can fill in with eyeshadows, blush, lipstick, lipgloss, foundation and concealer. It's genious for making your own dream palette! And what I love about Bobbi Brown's palette version (as opposed to Mac) is that the palettes are so pretty, comes in different sizes, has a mirror and the size of the pans and products you get are so much bigger than Mac.

I only got two things and that was a new palette to hold three pans and the eye quad.

The lightest one: Bone shimmer, (1) is a great color for highlight and tear duct.
The light brown eyeshadow: Copper Sand shimmer, (2) reminds me of Mac's Tempting.
The champagne color: Champagne Quartz, (3) I already own in a big size and is one of my favorite BB e/s. It's a dupe for Mac's Grand Entrance (which is one of my holy grail Mac shadows). The darkest color; Espresso, (4) is a great matt dark brown color, perfect for the crease or a smoky eye.

Actually this is a color Mac doesn't have at all and that I've been looking for, for a long time. I have all of Mac's matt brown colors, but there are none brown-black eyeshadows like this, which is actually strange considering how many brown colors Mac has got!

This is what my new "to go" palette looks like now:

How great is that? Four eyeshadows, four lipglosses and a blush in a small palette!

The blush Bahama Brown looks really dull in the picture, but is amazing on! It's from a best selling palette that Bobbi Brown came out with a couple of Summers ago called "Sun Kissed" and makes your cheeks look just like that: sun kissed!

In case you are wondering this is what the lip quad looks like closer up:













With those eyeshadow colors you can easily make 4 different natural day looks and at least 3 dramatic night looks. Here is a quick and easy look using all of the colors:
[click the pictures for a closer and better view of the colors]













I used #1 from the crease and up (we are on the eyeshadow quad now, don't look at the lip quad!)
#2 all over the lid and underneath along the lash line
#3 tear duct
#4 outer v and 1/3 underneath

blend, blend, blend, blend...